The town of Lambayeque is the old Spanish colonial city founded in the 1500s that was the centre of power in the region of the same name. It stayed a relatively small town until 1720, when the rich families of the town of Zaña relocated here after Zaña was destroyed in a flash flood.

Eventually though, the towns splendor faded, and the neighbouring satellite town of Chiclayo saw the biggest growth of the department.

Today this town consists of a main road that passes through the town several blocks from the plaza, the deadly quiet plaza itself and two of the regions most important museums, the amazing Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipan (Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum) and the less splendid but important Bruning Museum.

One of the other sites in the site is the Masonary building, Casa Motjoy, constucted over 400 years ago by Nicolás Jaramillo de la Colina. The building is famous for having the longest colonial balcony in Peru and in South America, so big at 67 metres it wraps around the corner of the building and all the way down the other side. During the independence struggle it was also used by various regional freedom fighters as a base of operations.

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Tags: 1500s, 1700s, bruning, chiclayo, colonial, lambayeque, spaniards, tumbas reales de sipan